TALKING CALMS ME DOWN / 2016

TALKING CALMS ME DOWN

An intermedia project by Jan Moszumanski

4 March 2016

How awkward are you? Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you were too afraid of the social setting and ended up mumbling?

During the last six weeks, our Oslo based artist-in-residence Jan Moszumanski has developed the project Talking Calms Me Down, which focuses on the stage of expression when there is definitely something coming, but it’s not yet clear what it is about. A stage of coming of age and becoming a subject within “the political”, performed by both the socially capable and the socially inept. If you’re not so good at talking, anything can turn out to be unspeakable. The first consciously transgressive acts lay ground for the future understanding of one’s capabilities as well as potential threats. This, in turn, moulds one’s opinion on what is possible and what is not.

Talking calms me down: A Mumblecore Essay is a short film that explores the world of mumble. There is no clear language, only words chewed ineffectively. It’s a disconcerting journey into insecurity, awkwardness and the safe zone of YouTube, where so many challenge themselves engaging in potentially embarrassing activities.

As Jan himself says: Mumblecore is just badly pronounced bubblecore. Bubblecore is when you do bubbles. Usually gooey lyrics and sappy melodies and is always about some relations or something. So the question for mumblecore is how to convince the others to your sappy lyrics if no one can really understand what you’re saying. You’re really in a laundry room. You’re really in a laundry room.

The film will run in loop throughout the whole duration of the Lounge and will be accompanied by a free-standing installation derived from one of the set designs.

The work presented at the Lounge is produced by the current artistic interns from Denmark and abroad working at Atelier Hotel Pro Forma. All artists and interns are selected by artistic director Kirsten Dehlholm.